Field of the Invention
This specification relates to a connector.
Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-4737 discloses a connector with first and second housing bodies that are assembled by being stacked on one another. Cavities are arranged laterally side by side in each of the housing bodies and terminal fittings are inserted respectively into the cavities. The cavities are partitioned by separation walls. First retaining portions are formed on the separation walls of the first housing body and project toward the second housing body. Additionally, first retention receiving recesses are formed on the separation walls of the first housing body and are provided laterally alternately side by side on a surface facing the second housing body. Similarly, the second housing body has second retaining portions projecting from the respective separation walls of the second housing body toward the first housing body and second retention receiving recesses are provided laterally alternately side by side on a surface of the separation walls of the second facing the first housing body.
When the first and second housing bodies are assembled, the first retaining portions fit into the second retention receiving portions and the second retaining portions fit into the first retention receiving portions. In this way, the first and second retaining portions are arranged respectively to face and lock to the second and first terminal fittings so that the first and second terminal fittings cannot exit rearward from the first and second cavities. More particularly, the exit of the respective terminal fittings is restricted by locking the first and second housing bodies to the terminal fittings of the mating housing bodies. However, the housings and, eventually, the terminal fittings can be stacked only up to two stages.
As a countermeasure against this, thought has been given to providing a locking hole on an upper surface side of a sub-housing and a downward projecting retaining portion on the lower surface and to stack these sub-housings in three or more of stages. In this case, terminals other than those in the uppermost stage can be retained by fitting the respective retaining portions into the locking holes of the sub-housings disposed to face the retaining portions and locking the terminals in the locking holes. However, in this configuration, the terminals in the sub-housing disposed in an uppermost stage cannot be retained by another sub-housing. Thus, a component including only a retaining portion for retaining the terminals accommodated in the sub-housing in the uppermost stage without accommodating any terminal inside is necessary, which leads to an increase in the number of components.